Sieving Through the Online Vendors And Narrowing Down Choices

Blue Nile was the first online retailer I visited since they had the largest diamond inventory. While I did manage to shortlist several potential diamonds, I couldn’t convince myself to buy blind as I am a risk adverse person.

That said, I did try to approach their customer support to request more data on the diamonds. Unfortunately, my request was explicitly rejected by their live support. Blue Nile does not provide any additional information beyond what was shown on their website. Obviously, I wasn’t pleased to hear that since all it takes is just a little effort to obtain the information.

To make things worse, the support staff started doing blatant self promotion about how long they had been in business and why I should buy diamonds from them. The kind of talk about how “trusted” their business is and how Blue Nile only list high quality diamonds in their inventory just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Just take a look at the screenshot below and you’ll see the obvious contradictions.

Fair? Good? These are “high quality” diamonds? Are you joking?

I didn’t like the fact that the reason behind a rejected photograph request was never properly explained. Instead of addressing the issue on hand and alleviating my concerns, the live support staff kept on mentioning stuff like how “wonderful” the company is.

Here’s my gripe – If the job of a customer support is to give help to customers, then they should focus on taking care of customers. If your company is really so “awesome”, prove it to the customer through actions and not via some fluffy bulls*** talk.

So, I Dinged The World’s Biggest Online Diamond Retailer. Now What?

I moved on and guess what? I managed to find the same exact diamond at JamesAllen.com. Needless to say, I contacted their support staff via a phone call immediately. A guy named Chris was on the other end of the line and he was really helpful and patient. He gave me further tips on choosing diamonds and notified me of several other diamonds that I had missed in my initial search. For a first time shopper, this type of information was greatly appreciated.

Besides being able to inspect diamonds with magnified images at JamesAllen.com, they also had great looking ring designs. At that point in time, I wasn’t ready to commit myself to the purchase. Instead, I sat on the decision for 2 days and didn’t place the diamond on hold.

That was a decision I regretted later. When I was finally ready to make the purchase and contacted James Allen again, the diamond had already been sold to someone else! Damn…

Here's a Tip For You to Take Back

If you have your eyes on a diamond, be sure to get in touch with the retailer and get them to “hold” the diamond for you. The diamond can usually be reserved for about 24-48 hours and you want to do this to avoid disappointments. At the end of the hold, there are no obligations to make the purchase should you change your mind.

The search for a new stone is now on again since I couldn’t find any other alternatives I liked at James Allen. It’s back to sieving through more inventory and visits to other online sites. I literally had to browse through hundreds of other heart shaped diamonds before I manage to find the perfect stone.

If you are looking for a round-cut diamond, Whiteflash and Brian Gavin are 2 other vendors you want to check out. Their signature diamonds are some of the most well-cut in the industry.